


All I have

by Cataraction



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Body Horror, Horror, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-09
Updated: 2015-04-09
Packaged: 2018-03-22 03:21:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3712921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cataraction/pseuds/Cataraction
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the zombie apocalypse, no one is safe, no matter who they are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All I have

**Author's Note:**

> Prepare for sadness! :D

Rhett bolted upright, flinging his upper body forward violently as he was jerked awake out of his severe nightmare. He let out a distressed yelp through panting breaths as his chest heaved. A cold sweat had beaded on his forehead and left him feeling clammy and wet. The filthy jeans and thinly worn turquoise V-neck clung to his skin. He peered around the room and centered himself with his surroundings. The room was once Link’s living room, but due to the most recent circumstances, Link’s entire house had been converted into a base of operations for himself and Link. He had fallen asleep on the couch and now, he sat up peering about at the supply crates that littered the room. To his right, was the front door in it’s heavily bolted state. The air was dusty and stale, a result of the air conditioning being left off in order to conserve whatever energy they had. Although it was only the two men, they learned how two human beings could deplete resources. Nothing was clean anymore and the scent of raw human body odour clung to everything. In a zombie apocalypse, showers were hard to come by. 

“Hey.” The sound was quick and Rhett jumped before realizing what it was. Link had poked his head around the corner from inside the kitchen. “You OK, man?”  
Rhett nodded his head half-heartedly.  
“Sounds like you were having a nightmare.”  
Rhett’s gaze trailed down to the dingy carpet underfoot.  
“The one about Jessie again?” Although he said it in the form of a question, Link already knew that was it. It was a recurrence now and has been since this all started several months ago. Rhett kept his gaze at his feet. Link approached his friend and kneeled down beside him, trying to catch his eyes.  
“Hey man, it’s nothing to be ashamed about. No one deserves to see their wife and kids torn apart by those…things.” Rhett peered up slowly, finally looking Link in the eyes.  
“You watched the same thing happen to your family.” Rhett stated almost coldly. “We both had to shoot our own flesh and blood to keep them from turning.”  
“I know, I know. Trust me, I remember.” The sound of his wife gurgling and choking on her own blood after her throat had been torn out by their neighbour never really left his subconscious. He knew that Rhett’s situation was worse, though. The sight of his own kids, Locke and Shepard, turning into mindless drones and attacking him and Jessie still kept him up at night. Rhett had come out unscathed while Locke mauled Jessie. Link set a firm hand on Rhett’s knee and gave it a reassuring squeeze.  
“It’s gunna be OK, Rhett.” Link tried to sound sincere, but with how things were now a-days, it was hard say if anything would go right. However, Link knew what his friend needed to hear right now and he gave him exactly that; reassurance. Rhett covered Link’s hand with his own and gave a weak grin, nodding his head gently, his eyes wandering downwards. Link smiled wide and stood up wandering back to the kitchen.  
“Breakfast is served. After eating, we need to head out and scavenge a bit in the local stores. Grab up whatever we can find.” Rhett stood up off the couch and pawed at his tired eyes before shambling into the kitchen behind Link. 

The two ate in near silence, with the occasional conversation between them. Their friendship was the only thing keeping either one sane at this point. Without Rhett, Link would have turned into a paranoid mess and locked himself up for as long as possible in hopes someone would save him. Without Link, Rhett would have armed himself to the teeth and drowned himself in booze and zombie blood. Both had an air of disarray to them, having gone without shaving and showering for quite some time, and with minimal changes of clothes, the few garments they had were showing signs of wear and tear. Link’s beard was growing in and Rhett’s beard had returned to a fully bushy state. His hair no longer stood up as it usually did, as there were no styling products to speak of. Instead, Rhett’s blond locks hung low on his head in a tousled mess. Both men had adopted all the signs of having missed more than a few showers but by this point, neither of them really cared about the smell. 

When they finished eating, Link took the paper plates they ate off of and threw them into the makeshift fireplace, which consisted of a fire pit they had built inside so they could have heat even without electricity. As of right now, a large, clunky generator chugged away outside, however the generator ate through fuel quickly and fuel was hard to come by. The duo marched upstairs to what used to be the master bedroom, but now took the form of an armory. Link took up a G17 pistol along with a medium sized hunting knife. Rhett plucked a large machete off the wall and slid it into his backpack before taking up a 12-gauge shotgun, shoving several rounds into his pockets. Link chuckled and Rhett turned to him with a raised eyebrow.  
“Where the Hell did we even find that machete?” Rhett grinned.  
“Oh, c’mon we pulled it off that brute in the whole sale foods place! And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.” Rhett slipped the machete out of his backpack before replacing it with the shotgun. He flicked his thumb across the blade, contemplating its sharpness.  
“Dude, do you think I could shave with this thing?” Link laughed and shook his head.  
“I wouldn’t put it past you.” Rhett smiled again as he continued to consider the blades surface.  
“C’mon, we’ve got a lot of scavenging to do.” With that, both men made their way down stairs and undid the multitudes of steel bolts that held the front door locked before venturing out into the cruel world they had been plunged into. 

Most store fronts were left with broken windows and the interiors left in shreds. The two made many stops in different convenience stores and fast food places, taking whatever frozen goods they found in the industrial sized freezers. After nearly three hours of wandering, the two made their way to their final stop. It was a large department store that held everything from furniture and décor to stationary and bedding.  
“I want to see if we can get some new clothes. Maybe get out of this shit.” Link motioned to his camo ‘Star Wars’ t-shirt and worn skinny jeans. Rhett nodded in agreement as he, too felt a change of clothes sounded great. The two men stepped in through what was left of the front windows and tiptoed through the shattered glass on the ground. Link made a B-line for the clothing section and immediately started plucking through the racks, looking for his size. The clothes were relatively untouched and compared to what they wore at present they were pristine. Rhett followed suit and found himself several plaid button up shirts he liked and a couple T-shirts and at least two new pairs of jeans. Link found several more T-shirts he liked along with a few pairs of very baggy jeans and both stuffed them into their respective backpacks.  
“God, I can’t wait to change out of these.” Rhett peered down at himself.  
“C’mon, the turquoise V-neck really pulls the whole ‘rugged and beardy Zombie apocalypse survivor’ look together.” Link said, sarcasm practically dripping from his voice. Rhett shot him a crooked grin.  
“Like you have anything to say Mr. Camo-pink-Star-Wars-and-skinny-jeans.” Rhett retorted. Link laughed as both men made their way back to the front of the store.  
“Yeah, I guess neither of us look terribly apocalypse appropriate.”  
Before exiting out the same windows they had entered, both men froze as they caught sight of what awaited them outside. A horde of approximately fifteen infected shambled about, moaning mindlessly and staring out with dead eyes. Rhett pulled the machete from his backpack while Link loaded his pistol.  
“They haven’t noticed us yet.” Link whispered to Rhett and he nodded back to Link. They took tiny steps out the front of the store and slowly made their way around the horde. Just as they thought they had made it out, one of the creatures began sniffing at the air, whipping its gaze towards the two men. It let out an inhuman scream, alerting the others to Rhett and Link’s presence. Both men readied their weapons and steadied themselves for the imminent onslaught. 

Rhett mowed down a good portion of them, using brute strength and the heavy blade of the machete to chop his way through meat and bone. Link would drop fewer but his precision made up for it, using as little ammo as possible by aiming for the head and pegging them in between the eyes every time. Between the two of them, the small horde was no match, however the commotion had attracted the attention of other infected from the surrounding areas, growing the small fifteen-zombie horde into nearly thirty. Regardless, both men still plowed their way through the reeking undead. Rhett’s brutish flailing took out several in one swing, slicing open putrid flesh and viscera. Sometime during the brawl, Link had made his way away from Rhett’s side and was now somewhere on the other side of the horde. Rhett was halfway through a heavy overhead swing when a piercing scream filled his ears. It was Link. Rhett’s gaze bolted up towards the sound to catch a glimpse of one of the creatures ripping out a chunk from Link’s shoulder with its teeth. Rhett screamed Link’s name as his mind went blank. He quickly plunged his machete into the few remaining infected around him. He rushed over towards Link and lodged the blade into the skull of the creature that chewed at his friend’s shoulder. With no other undead around, Rhett dropped the machete and fell to his knees next to Link.

“Oh, God Link…” His voice was full of panic as the sound of his friend moaning and writhing in pain filled his ears. Rhett attempted to stop the bleeding by pressing down on the gaping wound with his hands. Link wailed as the pressure renewed the pain coursing through his system. Rhett yanked his hands away from the wound immediately and instead pawed at Link’s face, forcing him to look at him.  
“C’mon buddy, I can carry you and we can patch you up back at our place, OK?” Rhett spoke faster than his brain could process, nodding his head violently trying to get Link to focus. Link’s gaze wandered across Rhett’s face aimlessly before settling somewhere on his nose. Link shook his head gently.  
“No, Rhett. You can’t.” Rhett’s eyes filled with dread and disbelief.  
“What are you talking about, I’ve picked you up dozens of times!” Link shook his head again.  
“No. Even if you did sew me up, I’ve been bit.” A weak smile spread across Link’s now bloodstained features. “I’m infected.”  
Rhett’s eyes burned with tears that had yet to well themselves up. He held Link by the sides of his face for dear life, reality slowly sinking into his brain.  
“Rhett, don’t let me turn.” Link pleaded in a weak voice. He reached up and grabbed one of Rhett’s hands and pressed the pistol into Rhett’s palm. The tears had made their way down onto Rhett’s cheeks and now streamed down towards his chin.  
“No. No Link please, I can’t do this without you!” The pistol shook in Rhett’s hand as he shouted through his quivering voice. Link did nothing but widen his smile.  
“You have to carry on, brother. For me. For Jessie.” Link took labored breaths in between sentences, blood quickly running from the wound and out onto the concrete below. Rhett sucked in a broken hitched breath as he turned his sight away from his dying friend. He brandished the pistol and aimed for Link’s forehead. He set his finger on the trigger and his whole body quivered as he tried his hardest to prepare himself. Something inside him told him that it didn’t matter how much time he took; nothing would prepare him for what was to come. Rhett squeezed the trigger and a loud crack rang out across the abandoned street. Rhett turned back to see Link lying there, eyes wide open and staring off into nothing from behind his glasses, and a small bullet hole in his right temple. Bright red blood seeped from the hole and ran out onto the pavement to join the puddle that had already formed beneath him. 

Rhett dropped the pistol and sobbed over his friend. There was nothing left to go back to now. The base that once served as theirs now was only his. The multitudes of food rations that would last the two of them a month would now last Rhett nearly two. But all the food in the world would never replace what he had just lost. His best friend of thirty years, his wingman, his best man and the only living human for miles around now lay limp on the cold pavement. Rhett practically screamed as tears streamed down his face and onto the pale skin of Link’s corpse. He curled up and rested his head on Link’s still chest and continued to weep, tears and snot soaking into the seedy material of Link’s shirt. Rhett knew that he was now utterly alone, as he had lost all he had left. In an instant, everything he had left was taken away from him.


End file.
